CanJAM Interview with Steve Kimock

[Jay Funk Dawg]

Guitarist Steve Kimock has been at the leading edge of guitar-driven improvisational music for more than 25 years. Dedicating his life to the mastery of guitar instrumental improvisation, Kimock has performed with dozens of rock fusion bands since the mid 70’s and is best known as Jerry Garcia’s replacement in post-Garcia Grateful Dead: “The Other Ones” Tours in 1998 to 2000 and as member of “Phil Lesh and Friends” between 1998 and 1999. Now comfortably fronting his own group The Steve Kimock Band, Kimock’s music is a kaleidoscope of fusion, funk, African and psychedelia, highlighted by dazzling improvisations. Check out Steve and his band when he appears at the Opera House on Friday, June 18th in Toronto.

Interview conducted by Jay Cleary on Monday, June 7th, 2004.

How are you today Steve?

I’m just sitting here at on the swings with my daughter, hold on a second. Ok I’m ready… let’s do it.

When was the last time you played in Toronto?

Well, jeez, the last time I played in Toronto, was a long time ago; it was at “Rock ‘n Roll Heaven” about 10 years or so ago back when I was a part of Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band (Between 1990-91)

The time I was there I noticed that there was a lot of guitar driven music in Canada. Which at the time in the US, there wasn’t really much “guitar” music going on. American Pop Culture was at a low point for guitar. Don’t get me wrong, there was guitar in music, but it wasn’t really good guitar playing. That’s what I’ve found most interesting of the last decade is that there is now a lot of good guitar playing. We had that digital guitar amp modeling for so long, that good guitar playing was at a minimum. I remember it being different in Canada back then, there was some good guitar on the radio floating around. Things have turned around since then.

How did you conceive of the direction of the Steve Kimock Band?

I’m not sure if it works that way. We weren’t really trying to do something specifically. We wanted it to be new, for the music to go somewhere; we didn’t really know how it would come together. It’s hard to know if we’ve found it, because we’re still exploring.

What percentage of your set is improvised?

It's about 80 percent, but it varies from room to room. If we're in a good room where we can hear ourselves well—and if the audience is into it —there will likely be a greater percentage.

The exploring, Improvisational aspect of your show, how does it translate to larger venues?

It really depends. The listening environment can be better when there there’s an intimate crowd. It’s really hard to find the balance between listening crowd and the “parking lot crowd.” It pisses me off sometimes when people aren’t there to listen. I recently got mad at a crowd for not paying attention; this was the first time in like 500 shows that I lost it. I think that most of the people who show up are pretty much there for the music, as we usually attract an eclectic group of good people. I hate that some people would want to ruin it for the others.

Why do people go out to see Steve Kimock?

From my perspective, I don’t know why people come or what people get out of it, that’s a real mystery to me. I truly love to play. I really enjoy playing for people. That’s what keeps me going.

Tell me about The New Steve Kimock DVD “Steve Kimock Band: Live at the Gothic Theatre”

It was recorded and tapped in Colorado on New Years Eve. We had a different bass player then. It was Alphonso Johnson, who will also be on our new record. It has 10 songs, and it’s a real mix of tunes. It was a bit nerve-wracking experience playing for the cameras.

Is the band constantly evolving?

For personal, financial reasons we change members sometimes, but we like to keep a stable line up. Right now it’s Rodney Holmes on drums, Mitch Stein on guitar, Jim Kost on keyboards and we now have Leo Traversa on the bass.

What are your future plans?

We just came back from a tour of Japan, and it was a lot of fun. They are really happy people over there. After a big tour this summer, we plan to release the studio album we’ve been working on. Right now I’m working on a new studio project in my home studio the Big Red Barn. I have a lot of new songs, so I don’t really know which ones are going to make the album right now. So I can’t really say what direction it’s going to go. I’m going into the studio again tomorrow, and so right now I guess it’s a Top Secret direction, you just caught me before I’ve had a chance to figure it out.

What can people who have never experienced your music expect to hear?

If they’re new, I say listen and enjoy, the music is pretty self-explanatory, so just soak it in. It’s really different every night. Everyone in the band brings something new to the whole. Everyone has a wide set of influences.

For a group that spends a big portion of the show improvising, do you find that you have some good nights and bad nights?

We’ve all been playing music our whole lives, and we’re a very professional band, I think it’s more like we always have good nights, some times we have really good nights. The musicianship in this group is at a very high level.

Grateful Dead certainly pushed the envelope of Improvisational music, but they certainly had a problem being consistent.

I think that Grateful Dead suffered because they played some very bad acoustic rooms, and sometimes they didn’t play very responsibly, they were either too stoned (laughs). We’re not on junk onstage. We play straight. We’re actually at our own gigs.

How as the associating with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead affected your music?

Well, it's certainly a mixed blessing. Garcia was just one of the great guitarists that I got to play with when I moved to California. The comparisons with Jerry’s playing begin and end with using a clean tone and modal improvisation. Jerry was a great writer and a great singer, and obviously a very important band leader. I wouldn't really try to compare myself to him.

It just happened to move to San Francisco in ’74 from Pennsylvania and those guys were around, so I ended up playing with those cats. Jerry once called me “his favorite unknown guitarist”; I never asked him for that, it was a very nice, sweet compliment.” I think that SKB stuff comes out of that experience, be it that funk of the Tower of Power, Sly and The Family Stone, or the North American Indian Music that was around in that time in San Rafael and San Francisco. You really become a product of your environment. I guess I’ve realized that it’s a part of me. I've been doing the instrumental improvisational thing since the '70s, and I always thought of it as small band improvisation. I’ve really tried to do my own thing.

[NewRider]

nice interview man, way to go! See ya Friday!

[HaMike]

Great interview! Although I would have loved reading his impressions of John Cippolina too from Steve's years with Zero.

[mark tonin]

Thanks Jay ... well done! See you tomorrow night! I think that we are in for a treat!

Peace, Mark